8.  The case mainly concerns events which took place in 1993 in the village of Ormaniçi in the Güçlükonak district of the Şırnak province in south-east Turkey. The applicants alleged that, on 20 February 1993, security forces had attacked Ormaniçi, as a result of which two children had died. The applicants further alleged that on the same day the security forces had set fire to houses in Ormaniçi and had taken most of the male villagers into detention. The applicants claimed that these men had been subjected to ill-treatment in detention, resulting in various serious injuries and the death of one villager. They further alleged that the security forces had returned to Ormaniçi later in 1993, when they had burned houses and destroyed harvested crops, and that they had returned once again in the spring of 1994 when they had killed four villagers and forced the villagers to leave Ormaniçi.
9.  The facts being disputed by the parties, the Commission appointed Delegates who took evidence in Ankara from 2 to 4 April 1998 and from 5 to 10 October 1998 from 25 applicants, 8 other villager witnesses and 15 officials.
10.  The certified transcripts of the oral evidence, together with the documentary evidence provided by the parties to the Commission, have been transmitted to the Court.
11.  The parties' submissions on the facts (Sections A and B) and the proceedings conducted before the domestic authorities (Section C) are summarised below. The documentary material before the Court is summarised in Appendix II and the oral evidence to the Delegates in Appendix III, which appendices are available on the Court's website and which are held in the Court's archives.
12.  In the early morning of 20 February 1993, military forces attacked the village of Ormaniçi. Many soldiers were dressed in white camouflage gear. There was snow on the ground and it was very cold. The military forces started attacking the village with rifles and heavy weaponry and later moved into the village, systematically removing each family from their house and taking them to the village square. Many families were unable to dress and were forced into the open with their children without proper clothing and/or shoes.
13.  Most of the male villagers were beaten as they were taken to the village square, where they were made to lie face down in the mud and snow, and were subsequently blindfolded. The villagers arrived in the square between 10 a.m. and 12 noon and remained there until just before sunset. The women and children were also assembled near the village square but were not blindfolded.
14.  While the villagers were being gathered in the square, a detailed search of all the properties was conducted and the soldiers began systematically setting fire to the homes, using an incendiary agent that they appeared to have brought with them specifically for this purpose. Many of the animals which were kept in stables or were wandering around the village were shot, or burned in their stables.
15.  During the raid one soldier threw a bomb into the house of a villager called Mevlüde Ekin. The bomb exploded, causing severe intestinal injuries to her six-year-old-daughter Abide. Ms Ekin and her other children, together with Abide, were then evacuated to the village square. The village muhtar[2], Mehmet Aslan, was taken to the house of Mevlüde Ekin to accompany the soldiers in a search. It was claimed that somebody had been shooting from her house at the soldiers when the bomb was thrown. During this search a soldier inside the house was shot and killed instantaneously. The army commander instructed Mehmet Aslan to indicate that he had been shot by terrorists, whereas he had in fact been shot by another soldier.
16.  Just before sunset about twelve people who had been blindfolded, including Mevlüde Ekin's daughter Halime Ekin, were taken from Ormaniçi to Şırnak by helicopter. They were placed in custody in Şırnak. The remainder of the men were roped together and forced to walk blindfolded and, in many cases, without adequate clothing or footwear, from Ormaniçi to Güçlükonak. They had to walk some 7 kilometres in the snow, which took 2½ hours.
17.  When the men arrived in Güçlükonak, they were put into a partly constructed military building. The floors were wet and constantly under water to a depth of about 10 cm. There was no heating or furniture. Many of the men were not fed for several days. They were systematically tortured and forced, whilst blindfolded, to fingerprint statements which had been prepared for them. They suffered various forms of torture including electric shock treatment, burning with hot metal bars, beatings, and anal rape with a truncheon and with bottles.
18.  As a result of the walk to Güçlükonak and the conditions of detention there, many of the men suffered severe injuries to their feet, some of which required subsequent amputation of toes or feet. The men at Güçlükonak were moved to Şırnak by helicopter on or about 5 March 1993.
19.  The persons who had been taken directly to Şırnak were also tortured and forced to sign statements. Allegations were put to them that they were members or supporters of the PKK[3]. One man, İbrahim Ekinci, having been tortured, fell ill and was removed to hospital, where he died of pneumonia on 16 March 1993.
20.  On 21 February 1993, military forces returned to Ormaniçi to burn more houses and kill more animals. The women of the village, together with the children, slept in the mosque, in caves, and in some unburned outbuildings. Abide Ekin died in the mosque, without having received medical attention for her injuries. A few days later, another child, Ali Yıldırım, was killed as a result of the explosion of a mortar bomb or grenade that had been left in the village by the military forces after the attack on 20 February 1993.
21.  Most of the detained villagers were released either on 9 or 16 March 1993. They appeared before public prosecutors at Eruh (Siirt district) and many complained of the torture that they had suffered. On 30 April 1993 a number of the men were charged with terrorist offences, which were to be tried before the Diyarbakır State Security Court. A number of villagers remained in custody until approximately June 1993. Two villagers, Mehmet Nuri Özkan and Ali Erbek, were still in custody at the time of the oral hearing held in October 1998. Mehmet Nuri Özkan has been released since, but Ali Erbek is currently still in custody.
22.  Both before and at the time of the transfer of the men from Şırnak to Eruh a number were taken to the Mardin and Diyarbakır State Hospitals, where they were placed in the prison wing. After medical treatment, some had parts of their feet amputated. This was the case of Fahrettin Özkan, who was only 13 years old at the material time.
23.  At the time of their release on 9 and 13 March 1993 respectively, the majority of the detained men were taken by bus to Siirt and subsequently to a nearby village. For the most part they returned to Ormaniçi by mule since they were unable to walk. During the period between 9 March 1993 and the summer/autumn of 1993, as they gradually recovered from their injuries, many of the men attempted to rebuild the burnt houses.
24.  In the late summer or autumn of 1993 there was a further incident in Ormaniçi. On this occasion all the villagers were assembled near the school. Two women were taken into the school and tortured and the soldiers went to a number of houses and removed all of the harvested crops and destroyed them. Some more buildings were also burnt, and further animals died after eating contaminated food. Many of the villagers had left the village to live in caves nearby but had continued to cultivate their land.
25.  A number of other villagers returned to Ormaniçi in the spring of 1994. In or about May 1994 the soldiers came to the village once more and gunfire was heard in the orchards and fields nearby. After that the soldiers arrived in the village indicating that they had killed seven terrorists. In fact four villagers had been killed as well as three alleged members of the PKK. After this incident the villagers were given three days to leave the village, otherwise they would be killed. They all left and moved to various towns in south-east Turkey, including Güçlükonak, Tarsus and Siirt. A number also moved to İstanbul. They have been unable to return to the village since that date. Some have remained in a neighbouring village.
26.  In August 1994 the Government carried out an investigation in Ormaniçi into the events which had taken place there in February 1993. No investigation was carried out into the detention of the villagers in Güçlükonak or Şırnak, notwithstanding the injuries they had suffered whilst in custody. None of the applicants has been offered any compensation for their losses.
27.  While the security forces were approaching the village of Ormaniçi on 20 February 1993 in order to carry out a search in the valley of the Ormaniçi stream, they came under fire from the village.
28.  In the course of the ensuing clash, the roofs of some houses in the village caught fire as a result of being hit by tracer bullets fired in the course of the exchange of fire. No house was deliberately set on fire by members of the security forces involved in the incident. Although some livestock in the village may have died of suffocation caused by smoke, none of the members of the security forces involved deliberately killed any livestock there.
29.  Apart from one soldier who was killed when conducting a search in one of the houses of the village, nobody was injured or killed in Ormaniçi on 20 February 1993.
30.  Those villagers who were subsequently taken into detention were not ill-treated during their detention. The injuries sustained by a number of these villagers, which in the case of four villagers resulted in the amputation of toes, had been caused by frostbite, for which they received medical treatment while in detention.
31.  One of the villagers taken into detention, who suffered from epilepsy, was transferred to hospital while in detention. He subsequently died in hospital of natural causes.
32.  On 31 March 1993 the Eruh public prosecutor issued a decision of lack of jurisdiction in respect of 42 persons who had been taken into detention on 20 February 1993 in the village of Ormaniçi and referred the case to the office of the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court.
33.  On 30 April 1993 the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court issued a decision of non-prosecution in respect of 25 Ormaniçi villagers for lack of sufficient evidence of the charges of membership of the PKK or aiding and abetting the PKK. These villagers were consequently released.
34.  As regards the other 17 Ormaniçi villagers, on 30 April 1993 the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court issued an indictment committing them to appear before the State Security Court on charges of armed activities on behalf of the PKK, membership of the PKK and/or aiding and abetting the PKK. Although most of these villagers were released at some point in time, the villagers Mehmet Nuri Özkan and Ali Erbek were still in detention in October 1998. In September 1998 the proceedings before the State Security Court in the case were still pending.
35.  On 24 June 1993 the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court took a decision of non-prosecution in relation to the death on 17 March 1993 of İbrahim Ekinci, one of the Ormaniçi villagers taken into detention on 20 February 1993. In this decision it was noted that the cause of death found had been pneumonia and it was held that no offence had been committed in that the incident was due to no one's fault or influence. It was decided that, unless there were any objections, there were no grounds for instituting proceedings.
36.  The applicants did not make an official complaint about the destruction of their property and homes or about their treatment in detention. On 12 April 1993 Ayşe Ekinci filed a criminal complaint with the office of the public prosecutor in Cizre in relation to her husband İbrahim Ekinci, who had died in hospital while in detention.
37.  On 15 August 1994, on the basis of this criminal complaint, the Eruh public prosecutor took a decision of non-prosecution. In his decision it was pointed out that the cause of death found was pneumonia.
38.  After the Commission had communicated the applicants' complaints to the Government, the Turkish Ministry of Justice ordered an investigation into the events of 20 February 1993 in Ormaniçi, including the death of two children in the village.
39.  On 10 August 1994 the Siirt public prosecutor carried out an on-site inspection in Ormaniçi in order to establish whether houses had been demolished and burned and to take statements from applicants. He was accompanied by a civil engineer, who drew up a separate report on the conditions of the houses found in Ormaniçi. Also on 10 August 1994, the Eruh public prosecutor went to Ormaniçi in order to carry out an investigation of the death of two children, Abide Ekin and Ali Yıldırım, in the course of which the two children's remains were disinterred.
40.  On 27 June 1995 the Eruh public prosecutor issued a decision of lack of jurisdiction in the investigation concerning the death of Abide Ekin and Ali Yıldırım. In his decision it was found to have been established that the children had died as a result of the explosion of explosive devices with which they had played and which had been left unexploded after the incident in Ormaniçi on 20 February 1993. The offence was described as causing the death of two persons by leaving explosive material in the village. According to this decision, the perpetrators – referred to as defendants – were an unspecified number of illegal PKK terrorists. The decision further stated that the case file was to be transmitted to the office of the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court for further proceedings.
41.  On 21 July 1995 the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court decided that the Eruh public prosecutor – in co-operation with the Eruh District Gendarmerie Command, the Siirt Directorate of Security and the Siirt Provincial Gendarmerie Command – was to conduct a further investigation into the deaths of Abide Ekin and Ali Yıldırım and to communicate the results of this investigation to the office of the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court at regular intervals. It appears that such reports were sent on a regular basis. According to the wording of the last report made available, a letter of 3 June 1998 from the Siirt Provincial Directorate of Security to the office of the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court:
“the incident occurred as a result of the activities of the outlawed PKK terrorist organisation and upon the establishment of open [as yet unknown] identities and apprehension of the perpetrators information will be submitted separately”.
42.  No information has been submitted as to the outcome of the investigation conducted by the Siirt public prosecutor into the destruction of houses in Ormaniçi.